It is well known in motor vehicles to restrain an occupant in the vehicle seat by a lap belt disposed across the lap and a shoulder belt disposed diagonally across the chest.
Furthermore, it is known to mount the outboard ends of the restraint belt on the vehicle door at positions generally adjacent the occupant shoulder and the occupant lap. The restraint belt is connected to an anchor belt mounted inboard the occupant seat by a disconnect buckle assembly including a buckle and a latch plate. The anchor belt may be a fixed length so that the restraint system is a so-called active belt system in which the occupant buckles the belt subsequent to vehicle entry or a so-called passive belt system where the anchor belt is retractably mounted inboard the occupant seat so that the belt is automatically moved between occupant ingress and occupant restraining positions by the swing geometry of the vehicle door. In such a passive belt system the buckle is disconnected for vehicle maintenance or when the vehicle user wishes to use the restraint belt system in its active mode of operation.
The present invention relates to an improvement in the aforedescribed door mounted belt system and more particularly provides a storage reel on the door for winding and storing the belt when the disconnect buckle is released.